Closing Statement

We would like to conclude the symposium with a clear message, directed to all those who relate to beaches: users, researchers, managers, citizens, tourists, policy-makers. In a time of unprecedented environmental change, with beaches being particularly vulnerable and often threatened by long-lasting stressors, the Conference proposes this vision statement:
“Sandy beaches maintained in a functional condition supporting sustainable human uses.”
This vision is consistent with United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UN-MDG,) and serves the public interest. This implies the consideration of sandy beaches as complex social-ecological systems, whereas their sustainable use is tied to welfare, equality, life below water and on land, and knowledge-based governance. This requires integrated knowledge gathered from different disciplines and made available to different stakeholders, empowering them and supporting a long-term vision. An ecology-based management is considered essential to sustain the functionality of sandy beaches.

In order to achieve our vision for beaches, it will be important to:

1. Promote sandy beaches as unique living ecosystems that provide important services to humans;
2. Prevent further loss of beaches as ecosystems due to increasing human threats and
unwise management practices;
3. Consider and study sandy beaches as social-ecological systems extended across land and sea;
4. Develop ecological principles and paradigms to be used by decision-makers and
managers and;
5. Develop and implement best-practice management protocols.

Participants at this conference are actively addressing these issues as well as challenges
related to a much needed change in the approach to sandy beaches.